


(not quite) love at first sight

by sataninacape



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: F/F, additional tags pending give me a sec, bold!jo shocking i know, let's find out together though 😎🤝, no idea where i'm going with this tbfh, roommates au bc that's the bestest kush don't fight me on this, soft!stoner!pen but are you surprised
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-04
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-03 20:59:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,320
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19472092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sataninacape/pseuds/sataninacape
Summary: and they were roommates!!! ᵒʰ ᵐʸ ᵍᵒᵈ ᵗʰᵉʸ ʷᵉʳᵉ ʳᵒᵒᵐᵐᵃᵗᵉˢ





	1. 恋の予感 (koi no yokan)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi! so, edit:  
> found this song like a week after i uploaded this chapter and it's so! very! fitting! go give it a listen, if you'd like to!!  
> https://youtu.be/fanVk6Kmwro

Penelope Park has never believed in love at first sight.

She thinks it’s childish to believe in something that doesn’t even pan out well in Disney films. In movies where rosy-cheeked, doe-eyed princes turn out to be sly, manipulative villains. To be selfish heart-breakers.

So Penelope grows up skeptical, hesitant to trust anyone who looks like a prince, a princess. Which is all well and good, because Penelope spends most of her high school years playing the villain anyway. 

She wreaks havoc, causes chaos. She convinces herself that she doesn’t have the time or energy to entertain a love interest, that life is a game and romance is a distraction.

Penelope doesn’t blink twice at, waste her time chasing, any boys or girls that catch her eye. Even if they do catch her eye, every now and then. She just doesn’t see the appeal in pursuing a means to an end.

So, instead, Penelope leads people on; lets them in, only to show them out. She kisses, doesn’t tell. 

Penelope sticks her foot out, trips a few, too. Lets them tumble in love, doesn’t bother lending a hand up.

And then comes the summer after high school, the day the tables turn. 

It’s a Tuesday morning when Penelope Park meets her very own rosy-cheeked, doe-eyed Disney character of a love interest. 

Her name is Josie Saltzman. She’s Penelope’s best friend’s girlfriend’s twin sister. And, more notably, her soon-to-be roommate. 

Penelope really doesn’t know much about the girl beyond the little that Hope has told her, most of which went in one ear and out the other, but the second Penelope sets eyes on Josie Saltzman, she thinks her whole world shifts.

Because Penelope Park has never believed in love at first sight, in clichés and fairytales. 

But, when Penelope meets Josie, ten minutes past dawn, in the glow of the sunrise, her breath catches and her heart stops and she-

Well, she still thinks that love at first sight is a scam and scoffs at the thought of loving a stranger.

But, still. The sun is kissing the horizon and the sky is a palette of pastel blues and soft pinks and when Josie Saltzman’s voice floats from cotton candy lips, like stray petals in the summer breeze, Penelope Park forgets to breathe.

Because, maybe, for the first time in her life, she wants to believe.

* * *

Josie glances at the rear view mirror with a sinking heart and watches as Hope and Lizzie fade into the distance. Her stomach churns and her palms clam and Josie opens her mouth to call it quits, to tell the other girl to turn back immediately because-

“Are you okay?”

She tears her gaze from the mirror and turns to face the driver’s seat. “Sorry?”

Penelope meets her eyes for a beat before turning back to the road. “Are you okay? You look like you want to vomit.”

Josie sinks into the chair, brings her hands to her face. “No. I mean, I’m fine, I just- I think this is the furthest I’ve ever been from my sister.”

Penelope laughs. Josie frowns. 

“Why is that funny?”

The other girl turns her way once again, hazel eyes glinting in the glow of the sun, and Josie almost forgives her for the unsolicited reaction because _huh_.

_Lizzie never mentioned Hope’s friend was so pretty_.

Penelope blinks. “What? _Oh_. Wait, were you serious? I thought you were kidding.”

Josie’s lips droop some more and the other girl visibly cringes. “Sorry. But you know we’re not even a mile away from them yet, right?”

She groans a little in response, sinks further into the seat. “I know, but in a couple of hours, we’re going to be a few _states_ away from each other.”

A pause. “And that’s a bad thing?”

Josie considers this. “Isn’t it?”

“Only if you want it to be.”

She turns to the window, lets Penelope’s words hang in the air between them. 

A few minutes later, when the car swerves a little, just barely dodges a pothole, Josie realizes the other girl has been stealing glances at her. 

So Josie tilts her head away from the passing traffic in hopes of catching Penelope in the act. And she does, too. She catches hazel eyes just as they shift back to the road. 

Josie watches as a blush creep up rosy cheeks and she smiles to herself.

Maybe this next year isn’t going to be so bad after all.

* * *

Josie dozes off between small talk and soft bops, and she wakes up an hour later, parked in front of a gas station. 

The driver’s seat is empty and Josie’s heart stops for a second, her breath hitching with anxiety, instantly hopping from _flat tire_ to worst-case-scenario. 

To _Penelope decided she wanted nothing to do with me after all and thought it would be funny to just leave me parked out in front of a 7-eleven and now I’m going to have to call Lizzie and Hope to come get me and-_

Josie’s brain pauses when she spies Penelope exiting the shop, carrying two cups of coffee and an armful of snacks. She catches Josie’s eye through the window, shoots her a soft smile. Josie watches as the nappy-haired girl places a cup on the car roof and reaches forward to prop the door open.

“Hey, you’re up.”

Penelope stretches her hand out, offers the paper cup to Josie. 

“Hi, I am,” she smiles, accepts the cup. “Thank you for the coffee.”

The other girl shuts the door, reaches over to place a bag of snacks in between them, and Josie squints, spots a packet of the Cosmic Brownies she’s been craving for months now. Her stomach exclaims against her will, and Josie reaches for it, doesn’t even bother denying herself the right to enjoy a favorite childhood snack. She tears the package open, offers a piece to Penelope, who smiles back, but shakes her head no.

“And the snacks,” Josie continues. “Let me know how much I owe you so I can Venmo yo-”

The other girl watches her devour the brownie, shrugs her off. “No problem, it’s on me.”

Josie frowns, opens her mouth to protest. 

“Don’t worry, you can fund the next pit stop,” Penelope flashes her a cheeky smile.

“Deal.”

She reaches for her coffee, takes a sip before checking how hot it is, and burns her tongue a little, but Josie doesn’t even mind because-

“Is this my-”

“Go-to? Yeah, I didn’t want to wake you, so I texted your sister to check how you like your coffee and what your favorite snacks are.”

Josie blinks. Penelope shifts under her gaze.

“I hope that’s- I mean, is it okay that I-?”

“It’s great,” Josie sputters, nearly choking on her coffee. 

“I mean,” she clears her throat, “it’s cool. That you did that. Thanks, Penelope.”

_iT’s cOoL tHaT yOu diD tHaT_ , Josie wants to dig a pit and bury herself in it. Except, Penelope grins in response and, okay, maybe the pit can wait. 

“It was no problem, really,” Penelope tells her. And then sit there for a minute, chugging coffee and munching on brownies and she wonders out loud how this is the first time she’s ever met Penelope Park. Considering their mutual friendship with Hope, it feels like they should have met sooner.

Penelope shrugs. “I mean, we did go to different schools.”

“Right, you went to that fancy, all-girls, private school that Hope transferred from.”

She nods, Josie continues. “But don’t you think it’s just a little strange that we haven’t met before? Hope and Lizzie have been dating for over a year now, and you and Hope are so close, it’s just weird that-”

“Every single time we made group plans, they fell through?” Penelope finishes for her.

Josie meets her eyes. “Yeah.” Silence greets them again and Josie leans her head back, thinks up what to say next. “Well, maybe this is how we were supposed to meet. As roommates, you know?”

Penelope’s eyebrows knit. “What, like destiny?”

Josie nods. “Yeah, I guess. Something like that. Why? Do you not believe in it? Fate? _Kismet_?”

“I’m not sure,” Penelope tells her eventually. “But I don’t think your desperate need to find a roommate because Milton Greasley bailed on you last minute to join a frat necessarily constitutes as destiny.”

“True,” she hums. “Or maybe that’s exactly what destiny is.”

Penelope considers this. She places her coffee cup in the cup holder, twists the key in the ignition, speaks up eventually. 

“Fair point, Josie Saltzman.”

Josie smiles. She likes that, likes it when Penelope says her name. It fits well on her lips. 

* * *

“Absolutely not.”

“What do you mean _absolutely not_?”

“Josie, you can’t just say shit like that and expect me to be okay with it!”

“I said it once and I’ll say it again, Penelope Park.”

“Don’t you d-”

“M&Ms-”

“Finish that sentence and I’m pulling over, kicking you out, and leaving you on the side of this interstate to-”

“M&Ms are better than Skittles, hands down! No matter the time of the day, the shade of the sky, the-”

“The _audacity_ that you must have to spew utter nonsense, absolute _buffoonery_ in my car, my _safespace-_ ”

“M&Ms on their own? Delicious. M&Ms in popcorn? Euphoric. M&Ms with-”

“ _Bland_. You’re literally _tasteless_ , Saltzman! M&Ms are a cheat. They come in different colors, pretend to have different flavors, but _they don’t_ , Jo! They all taste the _same_! At least Skittles have distinguishable flav-”

“Well, at least M&Ms have variety! There’s Caramel M&Ms, Peanut M&Ms, Peanut _Butter_ M&Ms-”

“What I’m hearing is: Mars, Incorporated is pushing an agenda of exclusivity. Kids with peanut allergies? Fuck them. We’re going to make candies that are tailored _exclusively_ for individuals without nut allergies! As if the world doesn’t have enough of those already. But the Wrigley Company, on the other hand, is all about inclusivity! Can you name a single person that’s allergic to Skittles? _No!_ So, in conclusion, fuck Mars and M&Ms. Wrigley and Skittles are forever superior, and-”

Josie watches in amusement as Penelope blows a strand of stray hair out of her eyes, tips a bag of Skittles into her mouth.

“Penelope.”

She chews exaggeratedly on the candy, shoots her a look. “Josie?”

“Do you know what Wrigley’s parent company is?” Josie asks slowly.

Penelope blinks, shakes her head no. She swallows before responding, “Please don’t tell me it’s Mars.”

Josie grins. “It’s Mars.”

The other girl scoffs, groans dramatically. “Why the _fuck_ do you even know that?”

“Because,” she plops an M&M into her mouth, savors the taste. “I am all-knowing.”

Penelope pauses. And then she lets out a laugh, all shades of soft and gentle, and Josie smiles because this feels like her second win in a row.

“Alright, fine. To each their own, or whatever.”

Josie snorts. “Wow, Park, didn’t peg you for a sore loser.”

The green-eyed girl gasps. “I am not a _loser_ , Saltzman. I still stand by my point that the M&M brand is deliberately neglecting children with peanut allergies, I just happened to mix up-”

“Holy shit, Pen, _give it a rest_.”

“Not until you admit that Skittles are better than M&Ms.”

She rolls her eyes. “You’re a literal child.”

“I know you are but what am-”

“Okay, you know what?”

Josie reaches for the packet in Penelope’s hand and places the opening to the M&Ms wrapper dangling between her fingers. She tilts it so the candies from the red wrapper tumble into the brown bag. 

Once Penelope’s Skittles run out, she crumples the empty packet and tosses it to the side. Then she pinches the top of her own wrapper closed and gives it a shake. Up, then down.

“Did you just-?”

“Mix the M&Ms with the Skittles? Yes.”

“Why would you-?”

“Because, let’s be real, Penelope. M&Ms and Skittles are, like, two different entities. They’re apples and pears-”

“Apples and oranges-”

“Apples and oranges. Why compare them when we can just-”

“Enjoy them? Both? Together?”

Josie smiles. “Exactly.”

Penelope blinks. Then she reaches forward and into the bag. Penelope’s hand brushes against her own and Josie’s breath hitches against her will.

She thinks it’s on purpose. The way Penelope presses her skin to her own, lets it drag as she pulls out a candy. But then she draws back and Josie blinks because maybe she imagined the whole thing.

Penelope eyes the blue M&M, doesn’t hesitate before tossing it into her mouth.

She crunches down on the candy, meets Josie’s stare. “You’re something else, Josie Saltzman, you know that?”

It’s the full name thing again and Josie sighs because can’t tell if she wants to swoon or roll her eyes.

She settles on a cheeky grin. “So, what you’re saying is, M&Ms _are_ better than-”

“Josie, I swear to fuck-”

And then they’re bantering again, tumbling over each other’s words, brushing into each other’s sentences, and it’s not what she expected. 

Penelope Park is not what she expected.

She seems easygoing, but not exactly passive. Carefree, but not careless. 

She seems like a walking contradiction. Like someone Josie wouldn’t mind being friends with. 

Maybe even something more with.

Penelope reaches for another candy, and their skin brushes once again, hands tingle with electricity.

_Something more, eventually_ , Josie thinks. _But friends is enough for now_.

* * *

Penelope steals a glance at Josie as she slips a lime Skittle between her lips.

Josie’s doe eyes light golden, rosy cheeks glow pink, and Penelope wonders if Josie Saltzman will be her Hans or her Kristoff. 

She’s banking on the latter, except, she scolds herself because _this is silly_. They just met. Penelope hasn’t known Josie for more than a few hours and, already, she’s assuming there’s something there. 

Assuming the butterflies in her stomach aren’t just a result of the Skittles disagreeing with the coffee. Assuming Josie Saltzman really is her destiny, her fate, her kismet. Assuming Josie is even into girls.

But maybe love at first sight is based in assumptions. And maybe, that’s what this is after all. Love at first sight.

Except, Penelope learns several months, and then some, later, that it’s not. It’s something different. _Something more_.

At first, she has trouble putting it into words because Penelope thinks the way Josie Saltzman makes her feel transcends words, transcends language.

And then, one night, Penelope is reminded that language is not limited to English. 

She learns the word from a friend of a friend, between shots of vodka on a Thursday night, and, for whatever reason, it sticks. 

It rings in her ears when she jolts awake the next morning, when she falls asleep that night. 

It’s 恋の予感.

_Koi no yokan._

A Japanese [phrase](http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180103-the-untranslatable-japanese-phrase-that-predicts-love) that means “a premonition of love.”

_Love, eventually._

Penelope can’t stop thinking about it because she wishes she’d heard it sooner. Heard it before that Tuesday morning, before that first week of August.

Because maybe then she would have recognized it for what it was.

Fought harder for what it could have been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so basically! ace tweeted this thing:
>
>> pen n josie, even though they don't recognize the feeling for what it is at first [pic.twitter.com/AX1kiV5NFO](https://t.co/AX1kiV5NFO)
>> 
>> — love, ace 🌈 (@scorpiowaltz) [July 1, 2019](https://twitter.com/scorpiowaltz/status/1145725680753098752?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)
> 
> so i decided to write This thing!
> 
> and now here we are😎 so buckle up😎or don't, i mean, i respect your autonomy, but! also! safety first!!  
>  anyhOW, if you'd like to talk to me on the bird app! you can find me @sataninacape :)


	2. area 51 in the rain

“Truth or dare?”

“What are we, five?”

“ _Truth_ or _dare_?”

“Fine, but only because we still have four hours to go and I’m going to go insane otherwise. Dare.”

Penelope blinks, tilts her chin back. “Oh, someone’s feeling bold.”

Josie smiles, rolls her eyes. “Do you have a dare in mind, or not?”

“Okay, okay. I dare you-” The green-eyed girl pauses. She signals to switch lanes, checks her blindspot before following through. "I dare you to tell me a secret.”

She scoffs. “Penelope, I picked _Dare_ , not Truth.”

“I know, that’s why I _dared_ you to tell me-”

“That’s cheating.”

“It’s not cheating if there were no rules to begin with.”

Josie sighs. “Alright, _fine_. But what even constitutes as a secret?”

Penelope responds immediately. “Something that no one else knows about you. Something that not even _Lizzie_ knows about you.”

Josie hesitates. She could easily play this off, easily deflect Penelope’s inquiry with a joke. 

But there’s something about car conversations, about staring out at the open road, talking to the trees, that urges Josie to just be honest, be brave, for once in her life.

Or, at least, this is what Josie tells herself anyway.

Because the alternative would mean there’s something about _Penelope Park_ that urges Josie Saltzman to just be honest, to be brave.

And there’s no way her impulses have to do with the way Penelope’s voice is light, her expectations low. 

Or the way Penelope’s eyes flicker between Josie and the road, curious and dazed. 

Or the way Penelope Park is a stranger and a friend at the same time. Something new, something familiar, all in one.

There’s no way Penelope Park makes Josie Saltzman feel like she can say anything, do anything, be anything she wants, right here, right now, because they just met and that would be ridiculous. 

It’s only the fact that they don’t have to make eye contact, the fact that the early morning sun is streaming through the windows, the fact that coffee and sugar is surging through Josie’s veins. That’s all.

Anyway, whatever the case, the brown-eyed girl proceeds to take a breath and exhale a confession.

“I had a crush on my twin sister’s girlfriend.”

Penelope chokes on a Skittle.

“Don’t freak out!”

The car swerves a little.

“Holy shit, Penelope! I said-”

She coughs. “You had a crush on _Hope_?”

Josie’s cheeks burn. “Shut up.”

Penelope lets out a laugh. Josie forgets how to breathe.

“It’s not funny! It was years ago, alright? It’s just- She’s just-”

“Hard not to like? Oh, yeah, I definitely get it. The whole _Hope Mikaelson Charm_ is kind of impossible to resist.”

Josie side-eyes the girl. “Don’t tell me-”

Penelope shrugs, smiles to herself. “For, like, two weeks way back when we first met. She was my gay awakening, actually. But then I got to know her and I realized that Hope’s a little shit. And, anyway, I could never be more than friends with someone who demands pineapple on pizza.”

There’s a lot that Penelope just said in those two breaths, a lot that Josie wants to unpack, but all she can seem to focus on is the _gay awakening_ bit. The _Penelope Park is into girls and I’m a girl and I’m into girls and we’re going to be roommates and oh fuck this is not going to end well_ bit. 

“Oh.”

“Oh?”

“I don’t think this is going to work out, Penelope.”

The girl in question looks over in alarm. “What do you mean?”

Josie clears her throat. “We can’t be roommates.”

There’s a pause and Josie watches Penelope’s face pale, her brows furrow. 

She continues. “I obviously can’t live with someone who _doesn’t_ like pineapple on pizza. That would be against my moral code of conduct.”

Penelope’s grip on the wheel loosens and she lets out a breath, proceeds to fake a gag. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Maybe I am.” 

Penelope lets out a sigh of relief. 

“Maybe I’m not.”

“ _Josie_ , what the fuck are you on? Are your tastebuds alright? Do you want me to take you to the ER? You’re starting to worry me.”

The girl looks genuinely bewildered, and a little concerned too, and Josie can’t hold back her laughter. Penelope watches Josie throw her head back, revels in the sound.

They sit there for a few minutes, windows rolled down, morning breeze kissing their skin.

“You’re such a freak, Jo.”

She pulls a face. Penelope sticks her tongue out.

“Don’t tell Hope, alright?”

Penelope mimes zipping her lips sealed, tossing the key out the window.

“Your secrets are safe with me, Josie Saltzman.”

_Josie Saltzman, Josie Saltzman, Josie Saltzman_.

Josie’s lips tug upwards and she turns to face the window. 

* * *

“Truth.”

“What’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done?”

“Dumbest _thing_ , as in singular?”

“Okay, yeah, I’m sure it’s hard for you to pick just one, since there’s plenty to choose from-”

“Hey!”

“-so I’ll amend. Dumbest thing you did as a kid?”

“Alright. Promise you won’t laugh?”

“Promise.”

“When I was, I think, six, I shaved off half of my eyebrow because my dad left his razor out on the bathroom counter and I thought it was, like, a grown-up thing to do. Anyway, the deed was done and then I was, naturally, hit with instant regret, so I tried to erase my trail by wiping the hair out of the razor with my thumb and-”

“Oh, so smooth-”

“Shut _up_ , it was such a mess. My eyebrow still grows back wack to this day.”

“Does it? I can hardly tell.”

“I usually just fill it in. Anyway, you can still feel the scars on my thumb.”

“Where?”

“Right here.”

Their hands brush, breaths catch.

“Oh.”

“Um, yeah. Definitely not one of my brightest decisions.”

“Hey, I mean, at least you got to hold my hand because of it. Do you use the whole _wanna feel my scars_ pick-up line on all the girls, or am I just special?”

“Oh my god, please, you’re the one who asked to see them!”

“Right. Is that why you’re still holding my hand, then?”

“You’re the one that’s holding _my_ hand!”

“You’re blushing.”

“You’re impossible.”

* * *

“What’s the dumbest thing _you_ did as a kid?”

“Okay. It wasn’t really something I _did_ , but I spent my entire childhood thinking that, before color imaging, everyone lived in black and white.”

“What do you mean?”

“Like, I thought the world used to be black and white. That there was no such thing as color, until-”

“ _Oh_ _my god_.”

“Shut up.”

“Please- I- That’s _adorable-_ How long-?”

“Until I was twelve. Stop laughing at me! I’m not the idiot who shaved her eyebrow off!”

“Right, you’re just the idiot who thought _The Giver_ was non-fiction, aren’t you?”

“Fuck off.”

* * *

“Truth.”

“Really? Again?”

“Let’s be real, this game has been Truth or Truth since the very first round.”

“Yeah, true.”

“So?”

“Give me a minute, my brain is fried.”

“That would imply that you have a brain to begin wi-”

“Do you believe in aliens?”

“Sorry?”

“Do you believe in aliens?”

“Yes. Of course. Is that even a question?”

“Okay, glad we’re on the same page on this one. But why?”

“Because, to not believe in aliens is to insist that the solar system is geocentric. Which, it’s not. Humans are just innately narcissistic and like to believe the world revolves around them, that the planets revolve around us. But it doesn’t and they don’t! So, to think that we’re the _only_ forms of life in the _entire_ _universe_? There’s no logic behind that, it’s just peak narcissism.”

“ _Oh_. Well, fuck.”

“What?”

“I just- I wasn’t expecting you to have an actual answer. I figured you’d, I don’t know, flesh out conspiracy theories and talk about UFO sightings and Area 51 and the sorts.” 

“Oh, that too! Isn’t Area 51 so _sketchy_?”

“The sketchiest.”

“That’s, like, my dream vacation destination, you know?”

“[Area 51](https://twitter.com/sataninacape/status/1150808934673858561?s=21) is your dream vacation?”

“Yes. Just _imagine_ -”

“Okay, yeah, that would be pretty cool. But you know what’s cooler?”

“Please don’t say Paris.”

“Paris.”

“ _Come on_ , that’s such a cliché!”

“And rightfully so! Imagine Paris in the rain, the Eiffel Tower in the backdrop, munching on baguettes-”

“Aren’t those song lyrics?”

“Munching on baguettes?”

“Yes.”

“Really?! What song?”

“No, oh god, I was kidding! I meant Paris in the rain. [Here](https://youtu.be/kOCkne-Bku4), let me play it.”

“Oh, this is catchy.”

“Right?”

“It’s the kind of song you hum in the shower-”

“And dance to on the side of the freeway?”

“Exactly.”

“So, why don’t we?”

“Why don’t we what?”

* * *

Penelope pulls over on the side of the deserted road, cranks the volume up, nudges her door open. Josie follows suit, exits the car, smiley and breathless.

“What are we doing?”

“Being reckless teenagers!”

Reckless teens who make sure to put their emergency lights on, despite the lack of traffic at this hour.

“This is ridiculous.”

Penelope shrugs. She has two left feet and can’t dance for shit, but something about the way Josie Saltzman is leaning against the car, hands to face, makes her want to try anyway. Makes her want to learn all the choreography in the world, and then some.

“Come on!”

Josie caves eventually. She gives in to Penelope’s light tug on the sleeve of her hoodie, let’s Penelope lead them around the car. Once, then twice. 

Their heads bop, shoulders shimmy, hearts drum.

They hum the lyrics, dance to the beat. When the song ends, Penelope pretends to chuck a microphone to the side, winks at Josie, and hops back into the car. Josie joins her, cheeks flushed.

“You’re such a dork, Penelope Park.”

“Too bad you’re stuck with me.”

Josie watches Penelope flash a signal before re-entering the flow of traffic. Or, rather, the lack thereof. Josie watches Penelope’s lashes flutter, her eyes catch the sunlight. All shades of green and gold and kind and curious.

Penelope blinks and Josie turns before Penelope can catch her gaze. She rolls the window down, stretches her hand out, flutters her fingers, rides the breeze.

“Yeah. Too bad.”

* * *

Josie falls asleep sometime after iHop and before they enter the city. Penelope makes sure to dial the volume down a notch, slow down to a near-crawl at the speed bumps.

“Jo, wake up,” Penelope nudges her gently. “We’re here. Can you _believe_ we actually made it in one piece?”

She groans, stretches her arms out, and nearly smacks Penelope across the face in the process.

“Hey, watch it!”

Josie blinks. “We’re here?”

Penelope grins. “We’re here.”

Josie looks from Penelope to the building and then back.

She’s looking at a beginning.

She’s looking at an end, too.

She just doesn’t know it yet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi so! this was. short. and mostly filler/dialogue because um. i felt like it😗but also,, inspiration to write posie fic? i don't know her, she's been lacking😔but anyway! hopefully we'll reacquaint and i can get into the actual premise of this fic next chapter bro because right now it's so ominous! n i'm like do i know where this is going? really though, where is this going?? bro idk, lmk where you think this is going!!!
> 
> oh and also shout out to you cc anons for coming thru with your childhood stories! y'all are wild! i respect it!!  
> and ALSO i didn't say who said what during them dialogue bits because i wanted to just! leave it up for interpretation and see how y'all read it sO HOW DID YOU READ IT WHO SAID WHat lmk if you want!
> 
> anyway omg that was long what now this is the part where i link my tweeter! here you are: https://twitter.com/sataninacape
> 
> until next time! :)


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